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Chocolate Mousse
2 squares unsweetened chocolate 1/2 cup powdered sugar 1 cup cream 3/4 tablespoon granulated gelatine 3 tablespoons boiling water 3/4 cup sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 quart cream Melt chocolate, add powdered sugar, and gradually one cup cream. Stir over fire until boiling-point is reached, then add gelatine dissolved in boiling water, sugar, and vanilla. Strain mixture into a bowl, set in a pan of ice-water, stir constantly until mixture thickens, then fold in the whip from remaining cream. Mould, pack in salt and ice, and let stand four hours.
A still-frozen mousse from the era before mechanical refrigeration: no churning, no eggs, the lightness coming entirely from whipped cream folded into a thickened chocolate custard. The hinge is the cooling stage — the base must be stirred over ice until it visibly thickens before the cream goes in, or the two separate in the mould.
- Chocolate squaresA square of unsweetened baking chocolate is 1 ounce, so this calls for 2 oz — about 60 g. Use a plain unsweetened bar, not cocoa powder and not bittersweet, since the sugar is accounted for separately.
- Powdered sugarIn American books of this period "powdered sugar" usually means a fine-grained sugar, closer to today's superfine than to confectioners'. Either works here because it dissolves into hot chocolate; confectioners' brings a little cornstarch, which is harmless in this quantity.
- GelatineThree-quarters of a tablespoon is 2 1/4 teaspoons, near enough one standard 1/4-oz envelope of powdered gelatine. Sprinkle it over the 3 tablespoons of boiling water and stir until completely clear before it goes into the hot chocolate mixture; undissolved grains will not soften later.
- "Boiling-point"Bring the chocolate and the first cup of cream just to the point of bubbling and no further. Held at a rolling boil, cream this rich will catch on the pan bottom and the mixture turns grainy.
- "The whip from remaining cream"The old method was to whip the quart of cream and skim the stiff foam off the top with a skimmer, returning the still-liquid cream to be whipped again. Whipping the whole quart to soft peaks is a close modern substitute, though it gives more foam and a looser one. Fold in thirds, and stop while streaks are still faintly visible.
- Freezing without an ice cavePeriod books direct packing the mould in crushed ice and rock salt, commonly somewhere between three and four parts ice to one of salt, for the four hours the recipe specifies; the mixture runs well below freezing, though the recipe tells us nothing about how cold. A home freezer does the same job: cover the mould tightly against ice crystals and freezer odours and give it four to six hours.
- ServingA still-frozen mousse sets harder than churned ice cream. Move it to the refrigerator for 15-20 minutes before unmoulding, then dip the mould briefly in warm water. The quantity is generous — a full quart of cream plus a cup will serve 10 to 12.